The present invention relates to reclosable plastic bags and especially to a reclosable plastic bag which is easily opened and resealed and which is easy to store.
Reclosable plastic bags are well known and are generally formed of plastic, such as polyethylene, having a bottom and sides with an open mouth which is closed by a resealing zipper. Zippers are typically plastic strips, one side having a sized and shaped groove extending the length thereof and the other side having a protruding rib which is pushed into the groove on the opposite side to provide a seal between the sides covering the mouth of the bag. The bags can thereby be repeatedly opened and closed.
Many prior art patents deal with reclosable plastic bags and include various types of profiles designed to be opened and closed repeatedly. The prior art bags, however, sometimes are difficult to open and reclose and are sometimes cumbersome to store.
Prior art reclosable plastic bags can be seen in the Bruno et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,884, for a reclosable plastic bag with easy open and easy reclose profiles which has male and female interlocking profiles designed to be easily opened and closed. This bag includes within the mating profiles a selective non-engaging section such that the profiles can not interlock at that section to permit a user to more easily open the bag when the separating action of the profiles is initiated at the non-engaging section. The non-engaging section also permits air to escape as the bag and profiles are pressed together to close the bag. The VanErden et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,316, is a reclosable bag having an outer reclosable zipper-type closure and an inner non-reclosable closure. A nonreclosable closure can be opened and the bag then resealed with the outer reclosable zipper. The Van Erden U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,734, is a sealed system for block cheese which uses a flexible film doubled along one edge with the end seals joining the ends of the film and a reclosable zipper along the other remaining edge. The zipper is longer than the space between the end seals so that as the zipper is opened, a mouth is formed sufficiently large to allow for insertion and removal of a block. At the ends of the zippers are spot seal joining layers of film. The enclosed Ausnit U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,244, is an easy open and reclosable plastic bag in which the zipper portion has a frictional surface for applying local force of opposing directions parallel to a rib and groove to cause a curl in the interlocked rib and groove to cause them to separate by relatively sliding the rib and groove axially relative to each other. The Tilman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,629, is a system for producing a non-compatible zipper film having spot seals at each end of the zipper portion. The May U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,230, is a double header package having a tear bead and provides a hanging hole. The Cox U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,752, is a reclosable storage bag which permits manual evacuation of air from the bag and provides a rough surface gripping pad on one end of the mouth opening of the bag.
In contrast, the present invention is for a reclosable plastic bag which provides integrated heat seals for sealing each of the ends of the zipper so that they easily align for reclosing the bags while at the same time using the heat seals to punch apertures therethrough for hanging the bag and also has center non-attached tabs on each side of the opening of the bag for easily grasping the tabs to open the bag. The center tabs also have an aperture therethrough for hanging the bag.